Proud of your Boy
by ginnyrules27
Summary: After a fight with Bunny one Easter Sunday, Jack leaves the pole to make a visit to two very important people. While he's there, Jack can't help but wonder if he's making his mother proud. (Song is technically from Aladdin but was deleted when the plot of the movie changed). ONE SHOT


Proud of your Boy

A/N: I OWN NOTHING! Okay, so what I'm going off of for Jack is a boy who still lives by his 18th century teachings. If my calculations are correct, Jack fell through the ice in 1712 (allowing for 2012 to be 300 years after the fact—I'm basing that on when the movie came out). Since my head cannon is that Jack died when he was 15, he would have been born in 1697.

I don't know why that's important—maybe because I just proved to myself that I can do math? Meh, oh well. Only saw Rise of the Guardians once but fell in love with the movie.

Emotional Stuff, not my forte—as seen by my one shot 'A Morning for Mourning'.

Jack glared daggers at the Easter spirit. It had started out as a friendly joke, a few snowflakes on Easter Sunday; just enough to raise the kids' spirits when they saw the paw prints the Guardian of Hope left behind. It wasn't enough to stick to the pavement and certainly not enough to ruin the holiday. So why was the kangaroo making such a fuss?

"Yer just a loafah," Bunny said sharply and Jack turned his head suddenly, tuning back into the rant the Bunny had started two hours ago. The entire room froze, waiting to see Jack's reaction. Sandy had a ball of dream sand ready in case anything actually came to blows, Tooth had her hands in front of her face though she was peering through her fingers and North was yelling at the Elves instead of actually paying attention to what was going on.

"Whatever," Jack shrugged but he was sure that the heartache of being called that by someone he'd actually grown to care about was written all over his face. It had been twenty years since they dealt with Pitch and Jack had slowly joined the group. He would have expected the insults then, but now?

"Bunny!" Tooth scolded but the damage was done. Jack picked up his staff and flew out the nearest open window. There was someplace a little more important he needed to be. He left so suddenly that he didn't even hear Tooth's cries for him to return or see the look of shame that came over the Guardian of Hope's face.

000

"Hi Mom," Jack said, brushing the snow off of the grave marker as he sat near his lake. "Another year huh? Hope Emma didn't give you too much trouble after I died."

He had attended his mother's funeral, only because of where it was held. Not that he realized who the woman was at the time. It took getting his memories back for him to connect the dots. But even before he could remember her, there was always that hole in his heart.

"Yeah, Bunny never did ask why I made that blizzard in 1768," Jack sighed as if answering an unasked question, brushing some snow off of his sister's marker as well. He hated Easter Sunday for one reason and one reason only. It was the day his family died.

_ "FIRE!" a man shouted somewhere as the village below began to burn to the ground. Jack stared helplessly as children began to cry with abandon, women clawed at the breasts and men tried to crack open the frozen lake to provide aid to the homes being burnt down. _

_ "EMMA!" a lone woman shouted and ran after her young girl, who had run back into a home that was already halfway burnt to the ground. Jack, in a desperate attempt to help, tried to make it snow but the air was too dry and the heat too intense. He ended up falling unconscious, waking up the next morning to the village destroyed and the two women dead. _

The blizzard of 1768 had been the one-year mark of that fire, and Jack wanted to make sure all the spirits and sprites that didn't help remembered it. Especially the guardians, who could have helped the children they were supposed to protect.

Taking a breath in order to make sure he didn't overdo his powers, Jack gave a small smile and looked at his mother's grave. Unknowingly, he began to sing a song he had heard when he was at Jaime's house last week. They had watched an old movie Jaime had insisted on showing Jack, insisting the lead character was just like Jack in some ways.

_Proud of your boy_

_I'll make you proud of your boy_

_Believe me, bad as I've been, Ma_

_You're in for a pleasant surprise_

Was she surprised, in heaven? Jack knew he was a trickster and a lover of all things fun—not exactly Guardian material really.

"Bet you got the shock of your life when you saw me become a guardian," he muttered as snow began to fall anew, mixing with the tears on his face. Still, he sang on.

_I've wasted time_

_I've wasted me_

_So say I'm slow for my age_

_A late bloomer, Okay, I agree_

"Most of the boys were already working by fifteen weren't they?" Jack gave a weak chuckle. Getting his memories that fateful Easter had been the catalyst for everything else. He couldn't remember everything but important things—like the first time his mom and him argued, Emma's birthdays, and the time his father died from Typhoid fever.

Jack couldn't get a job after that. Emma needed him around and the sheep needed to be tended to. Also, no one would take on a thirteen-year-old boy when there was a fifteen-year-old man to be had instead. By the time Jack died at 15, he was too set in his fun-loving ways to even think about settling down and getting a job.

Sighing, and refusing to try to think back and remember life in 1712 when he had fallen through the ice, Jack continued to sing under his breath.

_That I've been one rotten kid_

_Some son, some pride and some joy_

_But I'll get over these lousin' up_

_Messin' up, screwin' up times_

He didn't _mean_ to ruin Easter that day twenty years ago. But it was like Pitch had said—he made a mess everywhere he went.

_You'll see, Ma, now comes the better part_

_Someone's gonna make good_

_Cross his stupid heart_

_Make good and finally make you_

_Proud of your boy_

Was she proud? Or was she relieved that it was no longer her problem and that Jack had been foisted off to the Guardians instead of winding up with her, Emma and his father?

_Tell me that I've been a louse and loafer_

_You won't get a fight here, no ma'am_

_Say I'm a goldbrick, a goof-off, no good_

_But that couldn't be all that I am_

He did save Jaime didn't he? He helped defeat Pitch and save the rest of the Guardians. But he didn't really do a lot of work to prepare, not like Bunny or North. Or Tooth and Sandy for that matter. All he had to do was wave his staff around a few times to get snow thick enough for schools to close.

_Water flows under the bridge_

_Let it pass, let it go_

_There's no good reason that you should believe me_

_Not yet, I know, but_

Did anyone really believe him anymore? Or were they all convinced that someday soon he'd mess up their holidays just like he had messed up Easter. Maybe that was why he'd been left alone all those years before he was made a Guardian.

_Someday and soon_

_I'll make you proud of your boy_

_Though I can't make myself taller_

_Or smarter or handsome or wise_

Well why would he want to make himself handsome? He already had the mini-faries swooning at his feet. I mean, he had _fangirls_ for Moon's sake!

_I'll do my best, what else can I do?_

_Since I wasn't born perfect like Dad, Emma or you_

_Mom, I will try to_

_Try hard to make you_

_Proud of your boy_

Jack sighed as he finished singing and brushed the snow off the grave markers once more before standing up.

"I guess I should go apologize to the Kangaroo huh?" Jack sighed. "See you next year Mom."

Without a second thought, Jack flew off to the tallest point he could find in Burgess. Once there, the wind picked him up like a giant would a little kid.

"Wind, to the Pole!"


End file.
